The invention relates to a steam iron including a water tank and an electrically heated vaporizing chamber.
It is known to provide such an iron, which may also include a connecting tube between the vaporizing chamber and an inner chamber of the tank, and a drip valve for the supply of water from the tank into the vaporizing chamber, this being mounted in an electrically heated sole-plate of the iron. Steam irons of this type have long been known. They may be used either as dry irons or as steam irons, as desired. It is known from published patent application DE-OS No. 29 07 619 of the Federal Republic of Germany to provide a dividing wall in the tank, constructed as a baffle plate which serves to dampen any surges in the water. For steam ironing, a measured quantity of water from the tank is fed into the steam chamber provided in the sole-plate of the iron via a drip valve. As the hydrostatic pressure of the column of water acting on the valve decreases, the quantity of steam produced in the steam chamber and coming out of the sole-plate is sharply reduced. In addition, during the ironing operation, pressure builds up in the steam chamber, affecting the quantity of water flowing out of the drip valve. In order to balance out this pressure difference within the steam chamber and the interior of the tank, it has already been proposed that the tank and the vaporizing chamber be connected to each other by means of a pressure balancing tube as is known from published application DE-AS No. 1 095 779 of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result of the balancing out of pressure between the tank and the steam chamber, the steam output measured over a certain period of time is admittedly increased compared with a steam iron without any pressure balancing, but the quantity of steam coming out of the sole-plate is continuously reduced as the contents of the tank decrease as a result of the hydrostatic pressure.